Ponderings on Life, the Universe, and Information

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Everything here represents my own opinion unless clearly stated otherwise. I do this on my personal time for my own satisfaction. Nothing should be construed as specific advice as you have to pay for advice that goes beyond generalizations.

A Whole New World, Again

While the industry was aflutter talking about the fall and rise of the CIP certification, I was planning my next big thing. My next big thing has happened and I am now a director at IBC, a DBS Company. [Note: IBC later rebranded as Dominion Consulting].

What does that mean? Well it means that I’ve joined a team of people that focus on solving problems, regardless of scale. One observation from a client regarding IBC was that they solve problems that need solving. That fits nicely with my goal to make things work.

Why IBC?

To put it simply, I know the team. When I started writing this blog back in 2007, I was working for a consulting firm here in the DC area. I stayed there for five years, rising to director, because of the people and the culture. IBC was founded by the same team and they have created a similar culture. Over the years, many trusted former colleagues have joined IBC, giving me confidence in the type of organization I was joining.

Knowing and trusting people when entering a new environment is a huge benefit. As they trust me, I have been able to get a more balanced view of the company. As a result, my normal 3-6 month high-comfort level acclimation period is already zooming by at a rapid pace.

My decision, of course, was based upon more than knowing the people. There is a solid competence possessed by the staff that I have met. While out on my own last spring I worked on a project with IBC and was able to see their competence applied where it mattered, at the client site.

What does Director Mean Anyway?

I am driving a lot of what I do at IBC. Obviously I will be supporting existing efforts and clients at IBC. I will also be building upon IBC’s past successes to create new opportunities.

What does that mean?

Things are going to evolve over time but the short answer is that I am going to be focusing on information governance.

Shocking news, right?

IBC has already been doing work in enterprise content management (ECM) with Alfresco, SharePoint, and a few other solutions giving IBC a story to tell even without my presence. IBC also has experience with business intelligence, master data management, and integration which leads into two growth areas.

Content Analytics: Let’s look at the content so we can get predictive about things that are going to happen. In addition we can start auto-categorizing content so that the proper records policies are automatically applied.

Digital Transformation: IBC has worked on transformation projects at scale but there is a huge demand lower down the organizational food chain. Having the right information in the right place to make the right decision without shuffling through paper and multiple systems makes a huge difference in being able to execute your organization’s mission.

When you mix IBC’s record of solving the right problem, strong technical background, and experience doing a lot of this work already with my decades of experience, there is a bright future.

What’s Next?

I started a week ago so I’m already working on putting things together and getting to know everyone here at IBC. Meanwhile I’m going to be doing what I’ve always done, help clients with their problems and try to find other that I can help.

Really, nothing has changed. I will still be talking, writing, and participating in the broader community. I am committed to helping the CIP grow stronger and to working with everyone to finally solve the content and information challenges that I’ve been tackling my whole career.

And just like last week, month, and year, I’m always ready to help people solve their information problems.